Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

Document 12

Filed 11/12/15

Page 1 of 18

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
WILLIAM J. PAATALO,
Plaintiff,
vs.
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK,
Defendant.
John A. Cochran
The Cochran Law Firm
3404 SE 45th Ave
Portland, OR 97206
Attorney for plaintiff
Frederick B. Burnside
Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
1201 Third Avenue
Suite 2200
Seattle, WA 98101-1688
Kaley L. Fendall
Kevin H. Kono
Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
1300 SW Fifth Avenue
Suite 2400
Portland, OR 97201-5630
Attorneys for defendant
PAGE 1 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case No. 6:15-cv-01420-AA

OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

Document 12

Filed 11/12/15

Page 2 of 18

AIKEN, Chief Judge:

Plaintiff William J.

Paatalo seeks a

declaratory judgment

deeming null and void the 2009 foreclosure of his home loan and
trustee's

sale

of

JPMorgan Chase,
sale,

moves

the

property

securing

the

loan.

Defendant

the purchaser of the property at the trustee's

to

For

dismiss.

the

reasons

set

forth

below,

defendant's motion is denied.

BACKGROUND
In 2006, plaintiff refinanced the loan on his property ("the
property") in Yachats, Oregon.
"Option
$155,000)

Arm"

loan

and

Compl. 'JI 2.

nearly

$110, 000

home equity line of credit

Mutual Bank,

F .A.

("WaMu").

Compl.

He obtained a $880,000
(later

("HELOC")
'J['J[

2,

secured by deeds of trust on the property.

increased

to

from Washington
Both loans were

3.

Compl. 'JI 2.

Plaintiff alleges WaMu misapplied payments and reported false

derogatory information to credit reporting agencies on the HELOC
account.

Compl. 'JI 5.

After disputing those actions with WaMu,

plaintiff alleges he began to suspect fraud.

alleges

WaMu

inflated

the

appraised

value

Compl.
of

his

'JI 6.

He

property,

falsified plaintiff's income on his loan application without his

knowledge or consent, 1 and committed numerous violations of the

Contrary to the complaint, defendant characterizes the

statement of income on plaintiff's loan application as "a
representation [p]laintiff made to WaMu, not a lender
disclosure." Def.'s Reply Supp. Mot. Dismiss at 7 (emphasis in
original). But allegations a lender altered or otherwise
PAGE 2 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

Document 12

Filed 11/12/15

Truth in Lending Act ("TILA"), 15 U.S.C.

Page 3 of 18

1601 et seq., including

"fail[ing] to provide proper 'Notices of Rescission' on the 2006

loans[.]"

Plaintiff further alleges he sent a written "Notice of

Rescission" on both loans to WaMu on or about March 29,

2008.

Plaintiff asserts WaMu sent him a letter declining his rescission

and attaching a "payoff quote" of just under one million dollars.
~

Compl.

7.

According to plaintiff, the letter stated he could not

rescind unless he first paid off the amount of the debt in full something he was unable to do.

In July 2008, plaintiff filed suit

against WaMu.
On September 25, 2008, at the "height of the global financial
crisis,

[WaMu] was seized by its regulator .

in what has been

described as 'the largest bank failure in U.S. history.'"

Savs. Bank, FSB v. United States, 121 Fed. Cl. 296, 302
2015)

Anchor

(Fed. Cl.

(quoting Robin Sidel et al., WaMu Is Seized, Sold Off to J.P.

Morgan,

In Largest Failure in U.S.

Journal,

Sept.

2 5 '

Banking History,

Wall Street

available

2 0 0 8 '

at

Pursuant to a Purchase
and Assumption Agreement, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
("FDIC")

transferred many

of WaMu' s

assets

and

liabilities

to

falsified the income on a borrower's loan application in order to

obtain approval for a higher loan amount are common components of
predatory lending claims.
See, ~' Penaloza v. Select
Portfolio Servicing, Inc., No. CV 14-02571-AB (PJWx), 2014 WL
6910334 at *2 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 8, 2014); Garner v. Bank of Am.
Corp., No. 2:12-CV-02076-PMP-GWF, 2013 WL 5492691 at *1 (D. Nev.
Sept. 30, 2013).
PAGE 3 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

defendant.

Id.; Compl.

Document 12

28.

Filed 11/12/15

Page 4 of 18

After WaMu's failure, plaintiff's

pending claims against WaMu "went to the FDIC," pursuant to the

Federal Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989
("FIRREA"),

12 U. S.C.

1811 et seq.

Compl.

8.

Plaintiff

alleges he did not file a TILA rescission claim in court or assert

one in the FIRREA claims process because WaMu told him he had to
first

be

Compl.

able

to

tender

the

full

payoff amount

for

the

loan.

9.

Plaintiff alleges on April 2, 2009, WaMu recorded a "Notice of

Default and Election to Sell" in connection with the property.
Compl.

10.

Plaintiff

further

alleges

set

of

additional

documents were recorded in connection with the property on July 31,

2009.

Compl.

11.

These

documents

included

Notice

of

Foreclosure, Trustee's Notice of Sale, and affidavits claiming WaMu

was

the

beneficiary

of

plaintiffs'

deeds

of

trust.

At

the

trustee's sale, defendant purchased the property for $410,000 cash,

and on August 18, 2009, a Trustee's Deed was issued to defendant
for the property.
In late 2010,

Compl.

13.

defendant

filed an unlawful detainer action

against plaintiff in state court.

a lis pendens on the property.
while

the

unlawful

detainer

Compl.
Compl.

action was

defendant sold the property for $285,000.

PAGE 4 - OPINION AND ORDER

14.

Plaintiff recorded

15.

On July 12, 2011,

still

being

litigated,

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

In February 2015,

Document 12

Filed 11/12/15

Page 5 of 18

the United States Supreme Court decided

Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans, 135 S. Ct. 790 (2015).

After

Jesinoski was decided, plaintiff alleges he sent defendant a notice

memorializing

the

March

29,

2008

rescissions.

Compl.

<JI

18.

Plaintiff asserts Jesinoski makes clear "[t]he loan and contracts

were void as of March 29, 2008, and must be cancelled as a matter
of law."

Compl.

<JI

40.

Plaintiff filed this action on July 29, 2015.

He asks this

court to declare (1) plaintiff is the sole owner of the property;

(2)

the foreclosure of the Deeds of Trust was null and void; and

( 3)

all documents

recorded on or against

title

to the

subject

property after the March 29, 2008 notices of rescission are null
and void.

Compl.

<JI

41.

Defendant moves to dismiss for failure to

state a claim.
STANDARD
Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (b) (6), a complaint is construed in
favor of the plaintiff, and its factual allegations are taken as
true.

Daniels-Hall v. Nat'l Educ. Ass'n,

Cir. 2010).

629 F.3d 992,

998

(9th

"[F] or a complaint to survive a motion to dismiss, the

non-conclusory 'factual content,'

and reasonable inferences from

that content, must be plausibly suggestive of a claim entitling the

plaintiff to relief."

Moss v. U.S. Secret Serv., 572 F.3d 962, 969

(9th Cir.

2009)

(quoting Ashcroft v.

(2007)).

"A claim has

facial

PAGE 5 - OPINION AND ORDER

Igbal,

556 U.S.

662,

678

plausibility when the plaintiff

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

Document 12

Filed 11/12/15

Page 6 of 18

pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable
inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged."
Igbal,

556

U.S.

adequately,

it

at

may

"[O]nce

678.
be

supported

by

claim

showing

has
any

consistent with the allegations in the complaint."

v. Twombly,

550 U.S. 544, 563

(2007).

been
set

facts

Bell Atl. Corp.

"[G]enerally the scope of

review on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a

limited to the [c]omplaint[.]"

of

stated

claim is

Daniels-Hall, 629 F.3d at 998.

DISCUSSION
Defendant argues the complaint should be dismissed for two
reasons. 2

First,

it asserts plaintiff never completed the steps

required to rescind the loans under TILA.

if

plaintiff

rescinded

the

loans

in

Second, it contends even

March

2008,

any

rights

plaintiff had to the property were cut off by the trustee's sale.

Defendant also argues the complaint should be dismissed

because (1) plaintiff is barred from asserting any claims
stemming from WaMu's allegedly wrongful conduct against
defendant; and (2) the statute of limitations has run on all
affirmative TILA claims related to the 2006 loans.
Those
statements are both correct as a matter of law, but it does not
follow dismissal is warranted.
First, plaintiff is not
attempting to hold defendant liable for WaMu's actions; plaintiff
is arguing WaMu's security interest in the property was void as
of the date of the notice of rescission, which means WaMu had no
interest in the property to transfer to defendant when WaMu was
placed in receivership.
Second, plaintiff has specifically
disclaimed any intent to assert affirmative TILA claims in this
lawsuit.
PAGE 6 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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Page 7 of 18

I. Rescission Under TILA

"Congress enacted TILA 'to assure a meaningful disclosure of
credit terms so that the consumer will be able to compare more
readily the various credit terms available to him and avoid the
uninformed use

of

credit,

and to protect

the

consumer

against

inaccurate and unfair credit billing and credit card practices.'"

Hauk v.
2009)

JP Morgan Chase Bank USA,

(quoting 15 U.S.C.

552 F. 3d 1114,

1601).

1118

(9th Cir.

"To effectuate TILA's purpose,

a court must construe 'the Act's provisions liberally in favor of

the consumer' and require absolute compliance by creditors."

Id.

(quoting In re Ferrell, 539 F.3d 1186, 1189 (9th Cir. 2008)).

TILA

provides

special

borrower's

rescission

rights

principal dwelling.

15

for

loans

U. S . C .

secured

16 3 5 (a) ;

S ema r

Platte Valley Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 791 F.2d 699, 701
1986) .

TILA's "buyer's remorse" provision,

S ema r,

by

a
v.

(9th Cir.

7 91 F . 2 d at

701, grants buyers the right to rescind within three days of either
"the

consummation

information
together

and

with

of

the

rescission
statement

transaction
forms

or

required

containing

the

the

deli very

under

this

material

required under this subchapter, whichever is later[.]"

1635 (a).

of

the

section

disclosures
15 U.S.C.

The right to rescind expires "three years after the

date of consummation of the transaction or upon the sale of the

property, whichever occurs first."

PAGE 7 - OPINION AND ORDER

Id.

1635(f).

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

The

effect

rescission
rescind,

of

rights.

good

Document 12

this
The

for

three

provision
first

business

Jesinoski, 135 S. Ct. at 792.

Id.

is

Filed 11/12/15

is
an

to

Page 8 of 18

create

two

"unconditional"

days

after

the

separate
right

to

transaction.

The second is a "conditional" right.

If more than three days have passed since the transaction was

consummated,

the right to rescind exists only if the lender has

failed to provide the required information, forms, and disclosures.

This conditional right "does not last forever";

it expires after

three years or upon the sale of the property "[e]ven if a lender

never

makes

the

required

disclosures [.]"

Id.

(emphasis

in

original).
Under the statute, rescission triggers an unwinding process.
TILA provides "[w]hen an obligor exercises his right to rescind
, he is not liable for any finance or other charge, and any
security interest given by the obligor,

including any interest

arising by operation of law, becomes void upon such a rescission."

15

u.s.c.

1635(b).

Within 20 days after "receipt of notice of

rescission," the lender must "return to the obligor any money or

property given as earnest money,

downpayment,

or otherwise,

and

shall take any action necessary . . . to reflect the termination of

any security interest created under the transaction."
point,

Id.

At that

the borrower is required to "tender the property to the

creditor [.]"

Id.

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Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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Page 9 of 18

Plaintiff alleges because WaMu failed to provide the required

notices, he possessed a conditional right to rescind in March 2008,
and he timely delivered written notice of his intent to rescind as
required by 15 U.S.C. 1635(a).

He further alleges WaMu told him

he would have to tender the full payoff amount of the loan in order
to rescind, contrary to 15 U.S.C. 1635(b), which instead required
WaMu to take the first steps to unwind the loan.
It is undisputed more than three years have passed since the
consummation of plaintiff's 2006 loans and plaintiff's right to
rescind, if not yet exercised, has expired.

Thus, the viability of

plaintiff's claim that WaMu's security interest in his property was

voided

in

March

2008

on

the

effect

of

if those notices actually rescinded the loan,

complaint will survive the motion to dismiss.

hand,

the

notice

of

intent

to

exercise

the

If,

of

entitled to dismissal.

plaintiff's
on the other

conditional

rescission did not actually effect the rescission,

Jesinoski.

notices

Taking the allegations in the complaint as

rescission to WaMu.
true,

hinges

right

of

defendant is

The Supreme Court answered this question in

A unanimous Court declared "rescission is effected when

the borrower notifies the creditor of his intention to rescind."

Jesinoski,

135 S.

Ct.

at

7 92

(emphasis added) .

Thus,

if -

as

plaintiff alleges - WaMu failed to provide the required disclosures

and plaintiff delivered written notice of rescission in March 2008,

PAGE 9 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

the

rescission

was

Document 12

effected

Filed 11/12/15

and

the

Page 10 of 18

security

interest

in

plaintiff's property voided at that time.

Defendant disputes this reading,

arguing Jesinoski concerns

the time period in which a borrower must provide written notice of

his

intent

to

exercise

right

to

rescind.

The

court

agrees

Jesinoski's holding concerns the three-year life of the rescission

right.

The question, however, was whether a borrower can exercise

her rescission right by sending written notice of rescission within

three years, or whether she must also file a lawsuit within that
time period to enforce her rescission right.
at

791.

The

Court

had

to

determine

when

Jesinoski, 135 S. Ct.

rescission

actually

occurred in order to answer that question:

The language of [the statute] leaves no doubt that
rescission is effected when the borrower notifies the
creditor of his intention to rescind.
It follows that,
so long as the borrower notifies within three years after
the transaction is consummated, his rescission is timely.
Thus,

the

determination,
written

notice

as

Jesinoski
a

matter

actually

correctly notes a

holding
of

rested

statutory

effects

the

on

the

Court's

interpretation,

rescission.

number of federal appellate courts,

that

Defendant
prior to

Jesinoski, distinguished between notice of intent to exercise the

rescission right and the rescission itself.
Residential Funding, LLC,

678 F.3d 271, 277

See,

~'

Gilbert v.

(4th Cir. 2012)

("We

must not conflate the issue of whether a borrower has exercised her
right to rescind with the issue of whether the rescission has, in

PAGE 10 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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Page 11 of 18

fact, been completed and the contract voided.") ; accord Yamamoto v.

Bank of New York,
distinction,

329

however,

F.3d 1167,

1172

(9th Cir.

2003).

That

cannot survive the Court's clear statement

"rescission is effected" at the time of notice.

Jesinoski, 135 S.

Ct. at 792.
Defendant argues this reading of Jesinoski cannot be correct
because it means "a borrower's mere notice of rescission
automatically converts a secured lender into an unsecured lender,
leaving

the

lender

with

no

other

remedy but

to

challenge the validity of a borrower's rescission."

Supp.

Mot.

rescission
conclusion,

Dismiss
cannot

at

be

3-4.

the

Essentially,

default

rule.

file

suit

Def.'s Reply

defendant

Taken to

to

its

argues
logical

defendant's argument would require borrowers to file

suit to enforce their right to rescind, rendering no rescission the

default rule.

The Supreme Court implicitly rejected defendant's

argument when it declared "rescission is effected" at the time of

notice, without regard to whether a borrower files a lawsuit within
the three-year period.

Jesinsoki,

135 S.

Ct.

at 7 92;

see also

Sherzer v. Homestar Mortg. Servs., 707 F.3d 255, 258 (3d Cir. 2013)
(text of TILA and implementing regulation "support[] the view that
to timely rescind a loan agreement,

an obligor need only send a

valid notice of rescission"); Lippner v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust

Co., 544 F. Supp. 2d 695, 703 (N. D. Ill. 2008)

(plaintiff's timely

written notice under TILA entitled him "as a matter of law . . . to

PAGE 11 - OPINION AND ORDER

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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Page 12 of 18

rescission"); Alexandra P. Everhart Sickler, And the Truth Shall

Set

You

Free:

Explaining

Judicial

Hostility to

the

Truth

in

Lending Act's Right to Rescind a Mortgage Loan, 12 Rutgers J.L. &

Pub. Pol'y 463, 481 (Summer 2015)

("As a practical consequence of

[the Jesinoski] ruling, a lender now bears the burden of filing a

lawsuit to contest the borrower's ability to rescind.")
This reading of Jesinoski does

not,

as defendant asserts,

amount to holding "the process of unwinding a loan is automatic and

complete upon a borrower's written notice of rescission."
Reply Supp. Mot.

Dismiss at 3.

Def.'s

After WaMu received plaintiff's

notice of rescission, it had two options.

It could have begun the

unwinding process by returning plaintiff's down payment or earnest

money

and

taking

action

to

"reflect

the

security interest," pursuant to 15 U.S.C.

termination
1635(b).

of

[the]

Those actions

would, in turn, have triggered plaintiff's obligation to tender a

payoff of the remaining loan amount.
at

702

("The

issue

of whether

rescission obligations
completed

[its]

[does]

obligations

[the

See Lippner, 544 F. Supp. 2d

borrower]

not arise until

pursuant

to

can

satisfy her

[the lender]
TILA.")

In

ha[s]
the

alternative, WaMu could have filed a lawsuit to dispute plaintiff's

right to rescind the loan.
those things.

Compl.

9.

Plaintiff alleges WaMu did neither of

The question here is what happens when

the unwinding process is not completed and neither party files suit
within the TILA statute of limitations.

PAGE 12 - OPINION AND ORDER

In such circumstances,

Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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Page 13 of 18

Jesinoski directs that the rescission and voiding of the security

interest are effective as a matter of law as of the date of the
notice.
Finally, defendant argues even if Jesinoski means rescission
is

effective upon a

borrower's

applied "retroactively" to 2008.

at 4 (emphasis omitted).

notice,

that

holding cannot be

Def.'s Reply Supp. Mot. Dismiss

But there is no retroactivity issue here.

When a court interprets a statute, it is not "retroactive" to apply

the decision to transactions

already entered into,

court is determining what the law has always meant.

because the

As the Supreme

Court explains,
[W]hen this Court construes a statute, it is explaining
its understanding what the statute has meant continuously
since the date when it became law. . . . Thus, it is not
accurate to say that the Court's decision . . . 'changed'
the law that previously prevailed . . . when the case was
filed.
Rather, given the structure of our judicial
system,
[a Supreme Court]
opinion
[interpreting a
statute] finally decide[s] what [the statute] had always
meant and explain[s] why the Courts of Appeals ha[ve]
misinterpreted the will of the enacting Congress.
Rivers v. Roadway Exp., Inc., 511 U.S. 298, 313 n.12

(1994).

It is unclear what should happen this many years down the

road,

after the original

lender has

failed and been placed in

receivership, and the property has been sold at a trustee's sale,

then

re-sold

following

the

trustee's

sale.

However,

because

plaintiff has adequately alleged (1) he had a conditional right to

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Page 14 of 18

rescind in 2008; 3 and (2) he exercised that right, he has stated a

claim for at least some of the relief he seeks -

a declaratory

judgment deeming the foreclosure of the Deeds of Trust null and

void.
II. The Trustee's Sale
Defendant

contends

even

if

plaintiff's

2008

notice

rescission voided WaMu's security interest in the property,

of
any

right plaintiff had to the property was extinguished by the 2009

trustee's sale.

The Oregon Trust Deed Act ("OTDA") provides

If, under [Or. Rev. Stat.] 86.705 to 86.815, a trustee

sells property covered by a trust deed, the trustee's
sale forecloses and terminates the interest in the
property that belongs to a person to which notice of the
sale was given under [Or. Rev. Stat. ] 86. 764 and
86.774 or to a person that claims an interest by, through
or under the person to which notice was given.
Or.

Rev.

statutory

Stat.

scheme

86. 797 (1).

The

to

grantors

protect

OTDA is

"a

from

well-coordinated
the

unauthorized

foreclosure and wrongful sale of property, while at the same time

Defendant contends plaintiff's allegations regarding his

conditional rescission right give rise to only a "speculative"
claim for relief.
Twombly, 550 U.S. at 545.
Plaintiff, however,
does not broadly assert WaMu violated TILA; he specifically
alleges WaMu failed to give "proper Notices of Rescission."
Compl. ~ 6.
That allegation is sufficient to put defendant on
notice of the nature of plaintiff's claim, and at this stage,
plaintiff is not required to set out more specifically the
alleged deficiencies in WaMu's notices.
See id. at 570 ("[W]e do
not require heightened fact pleading of specifics, but only
enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its
face"); Stanislaus Food Prods. Co. v. USS-POSCO Indus., 782 F.
Supp. 2d 1059, 1074 (E.D. Cal. 2011) ("Twombly does not require
that plaintiff [s] prove their case or include every factual
detail in support of their claims in their complaints.")
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Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

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providing creditors with a quick and efficient remedy against a

defaulting grantor."

Staffordshire

Invs. ,

Inc.

v.

Cal-Western

Reconveyance Corp., 149 P.3d 150, 157 (Or. Ct. App. 2006).
Because plaintiff does not allege he did not receive notice of
the sale, the question before the court is whether the trustee's
sale

constituted

86. 797 (1).

2d 958,

sale

"under"

the

OTDA.

Or.

Rev.

Stat.

In Mikityuk v. Nw. Trustee Servs., Inc., 952 F. Supp.

960

(D.

Or.

2013),

the borrowers

secured by a deed of trust.

third party,

and

then

to

received a home

loan

The deed of trust was assigned to a

a

successor

trustee.

The

successor

trustee recorded a Notice of Default and Election to Sell, and sold

A year and a half later,

the property at a trustee's sale.

the

borrowers sued to challenge the sale, asserting various violations

of Oregon law.

Id.

at 960-61.

The borrowers admitted being in

default at the time of the sale and acknowledged receiving notice

of the trustee's sale.

Id. at 9 61.

This court held " [v] oiding the

sale under these circumstances would 'frustrate the legislature's

objective to provide a quick and efficient remedy for creditors
against defaulting buyers.'" Id. at 969 (quoting Staffordshire, 149
P.3d at 158).

Moreover, because the borrowers could have asserted

their rights before the sale, permitting the borrowers' action to

proceed "would encourage grantors who receive notice of a sale to
sit on their rights."

Id. at 970.

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The Mikityuk court contrasted the situation with the facts in

Staffordshire.
was

published,

In Staffordshire, after notice of a trustee's sale

the

creditor

forbearance agreement.

and

grantor

149 P.3d at 152.

entered

into

loan

The agreement expressly

stated the loan was in default, but provided the creditor was not
entitled to foreclose so long as the grantor did not default on his
modified payment obligations under the forbearance agreement.
at

155.

Notwithstanding

the

forbearance

agreement,

due

Id.
to

miscommunication, the trustee's sale went forward and the property

was sold.

Id. at 153.

The plaintiff in Staffordshire was the high bidder at the

auction.

The debtor convinced the

trustee's deed to
[the]

[the]

plaintiff," and the creditor "returned

plaintiff's purchase funds."

creditor,
realized

"seeking to
after

creditor "not to issue the

Id.

The plaintiff sued the

recover lost profits

reselling

the

property."

that

it would have
The

creditor

responded "the sale of the property was void" because it had been
conducted in violation of the forbearance agreement.

The

court agreed, declaring "there is nothing in the language of [the

predecessor provision to Or. Rev. Stat. 86.797(1)], or,

indeed,

elsewhere in the Act, to indicate that the legislature intended the

auction to be final in the absence of legal authority to sell the
property."

Id. at 158 (emphasis in original).

The court went on

to note the trustee's deed had not been executed or delivered.

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Filed 11/12/15

Page 17 of 18

Thus, "the statutory presumption of finality" had not yet arisen.

Id.

Under those circumstances, "the discovery of the agreement to

postpone

the

render [ed]

sale

the

before

[trustee's

the

execution

sale]

of

the

void [.]"

trustee's

Id.

The

deed
court

specifically declined to address how the analysis would have been

affected

had

the

deed

been

recorded

before

the

forbearance

agreement was discovered.

The facts here do not perfectly align with the facts in either
Mikityuk or Staffordshire.

Unlike Staffordshire,

the trustee's

deed here was recorded years ago, so the statutory presumption of

finality has arisen.
his hands.

But unlike Mikityuk, plaintiff did not sit on

Although it has been six years since the trustee's

sale, plaintiff promptly filed suit after the Supreme Court issued
its decision in Jesinoski.

Had he made the arguments he now makes

at the time of the trustee's sale, they would have been foreclosed
by Ninth Circuit precedent.
Plaintiff has alleged sufficient facts to survive a motion to
dismiss with respect to the effect of the trustee's sale.
plaintiff

does

not

appear

to

dispute

he

was

no

Although

longer making

payments at the time of the foreclosure sale, he does allege he was

current on his payments when he sent the rescission notices.

If

WaMu had no security interest in the property due to a rescission

in March 2008, the FDIC could not have transferred any interest in
the property to defendant, and defendant would have had no "legal

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Case 6:15-cv-01420-AA

Document 12

authority to sell the property."

Filed 11/12/15

Page 18 of 18

Staffordshire, 149 P.3d at 158

(emphasis omitted).
The

timing

foreclosing

of

trustees

Jesinoski

is

also

and purchasers

at

significant.
trustee's

Although

sales

have

significant interest in finality, consumers have a countervailing

interest in avoiding wrongful foreclosure.
majority of federal

Jesinoski revealed the

courts had "misinterpreted the will of the

enacting Congress," Rivers, 511 U.S. at 313 n.12, in allocating to

borrowers the burden to go to court to enforce their statutory
rescission

rights

under

TILA.

Further

factual

development

is

necessary to determine what effect that revelation should have on

the

property

rights

of

subsequent

buyers

of

the

property.

Defendant's motion to dismiss is denied with leave for defendant to

renew its arguments about the effect of the trustee's sale.
CONCLUSION
Defendant's motion to dismiss (doc. 6) is DENIED.
request for oral argument is DENIED as unnecessary.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this

f November 2015.

Ann Aiken
United States District Judge

PAGE 18 - OPINION AND ORDER

Defendant's